Winery Tasting Room dilemma

[Jon Hesford]

At the moment, I'm between vintages on a number of wines. The previous vintage has all but run out and the new one was only bottled within a few weeks, therefore the new wines are all suffering from bottle-shock. This can last up to 2 months with the red wines.

I can tell that people are just not "getting" the new bottlings. So should I offer tasting of the previous vintage with the proviso that they would be buying the current one?

I know the ideal would be to offer tastings of both vintages but that's too many open bottles for me given the frequency of visits at the moment.

Anyone know of a winery that has a good solution to this?

[Richard Leland]

If the new wine isn't showing well then don't show it. Anyone taking the time to visit your winery probably has enough knowledge/sophistication about wine to understand the concept of bottle shock. If you want to be a good host you can always pull a barrel sample of the most recent vintage.

[P. Willenberg]

How would the recently bottled wine show with a day of air?

[Corey N.]

I wouldn't offer a sample from a shocked bottle. You can explain the issue to guests and I think most will understand. If the previous vintage is similar/different to the current one, I'd make that clear (e.g., "though stylistically similar, this wine is a bit higher in acidity than our current offering, while the current offering has a bit more concentration").

[Jon Hesford]

Thanks everyone. That's what I've been doing and because people can see consistency between previous vintages they have all been happy to buy the new vintages.

[Andrew Kaufman]

I am sure your friend Ray has some ideas.

[Mel Hill]

Exactly, WWRWD?